Children, ex-militants turn out for military show

Up to 10,000 Solomon Islanders were given a close-up look at the military capabilities of the Australian-led intervention force in an open day in Honiara yesterday.

Thousands of local children stampeded across Honiara's main oval to get as close as possible to the massive Royal Australian Navy Sea King helicopters and the New Zealand military's Iroquois helicopter.

Throughout the day the Sea Kings and RAAF Caribou transport planes performed thundering fly-bys for the crowd, which included ex-militants.

The Solomons has been brought to its knees by four years of ethnic fighting between islanders from Malaita and Guadalcanal.

Among the crowd were some locals who seemed to know an awful lot about military hardware. In a Fiji Army display tent, hundreds gathered to handle unloaded machine guns and assault rifles.

One particularly tough-looking Malaitan picked up an M-16 and started asking highly technical questions of Fijian Private Ilaitia Cagi.

But when Private Cagi asked the man if he was a former soldier or militiaman, the man denied having ever fired a rifle.

"Really? You've never held one before?" scoffed Private Cagi.

"Then how'd you know how to hold it so well?"

Private Cagi was then asked about the "active range", or killing distance of the M-16, compared to other rifles.

"You seem to know a lot about weapons," said Private Cagi.

"Ahhh ... we just read about it books," came the sheepish reply, as the crowd burst into laughter.

Intervention chief Nick Warner admitted the open day sent an important psychological deterrent to would-be troublemakers.

"I think it's important, as it's not our country, that they understand the capability that we brought here, and the capability that is here to help them," Warner told reporters.

Scores of mostly Australian military personnel and police were on hand to perform demonstrations and take questions from curious locals.

In one display a sniffer dog successfully located and unearthed a buried firearm.

Hundreds of locals had their photos taken with personnel on patrol boats, helicopters and personnel carriers.

Others got to try on flak jackets, webbing and bullet belts in camouflaged tents set up across the oval.

Others still were content just to sit in the shade and sip from coconuts and stare at the helicopters.

A local mother, who asked not to be named, said she was glad to see military equipment being used for peace, not war.

She said the last time her children saw guns up close was during the ethnic fighting, when heavily-armed militiamen patrolled the streets of Honiara.

"I used to drive the kids to school but I'd make them cover their eyes from all the men with guns," she said.

"But now it's different," she said, gesturing to the military display: "They're not going to have to use all this."